Tischlein deck dich, Eselein streck dich, Knüppel aus dem Sack (1921)

The three sons of a tailor—the Tall One, the Fat One, and the Fool—decide to set out into the wide world in search of their fortunes. At first, the Tall One cannot find work and goes hungry. Then, in a forest, he meets a strange little man, who invites him to his home and, over time, teaches him carpentry. After a year, when the Tall One sets off for home, the man gives him a wondrous little table: whenever he says, “Little table, set yourself!”, all kinds of food and drink magically appear on it. The Tall One gets to try out the table’s powers before arriving at an inn, where the innkeeper discovers the trick and, during the night, swaps the magic table he has taken for an identical one. The Tall One returns home and tells his family everything. They hold a celebration, but the magic does not work during it, since the table is an ordinary one. Things do not go well for the Fat One either, until he meets the same little man from the forest, who keeps him at his home, now transformed into a mill. When the Fat One has to return home, the man gives him a magic donkey: whenever he says, “Little donkey, push!”, a great many gold coins pour out from the animal’s rear. The Fat One also ends up at the same inn where his brother had stayed, and once again the dishonest innkeeper steals the magic donkey, replacing it with another one. Needless to say, when the Fat One gets home, everyone is disappointed that the magic does not work. Later, the Fool in turn stays with the little man from the forest, whose home is now a woodcarving workshop. The man gives him a sack containing a cudgel. The Fool discovers what it can do when robbers attack him on his way home: he says, “Cudgel, out of the sack!”, and the cudgel starts beating the villains and drives them off. The Fool had received a letter from home explaining his brothers’ misfortunes, so he heads to the same innkeeper. When the latter tries to steal his sack, the Fool brings out the cudgel, which gives the innkeeper a thorough beating until he agrees to return what he had stolen from the brothers. When the Fool—who is not so foolish after all—returns home, there is great rejoicing: the table and the donkey, the real ones, now perform their enchantments perfectly, and the tailor’s family lives happily ever after, even to this day.